Sociology and social work

When spectators become performers: contemporary performance-entertainments meet the needs of an "unsettled" audience

Article Abstract:

Varying audiences evolved over the ages through the rise of private theaters, higher admission prices, theater architecture, emergence of the director and popularity of performance entertainments. From mere observers, spectators became participative. The audience became the performer. Performance entertainments provided the spectators a sense of group social interaction or catharsis. Spectator-participants found self-expression in performance entertainments that they cannot find in traditional theaters according them liminal flow of experiences.

Author: Lancaster, Kurt

Publisher:Blackwell Publishers Ltd.Publication Name:Journal of Popular CultureSubject:Sociology and social workISSN:0022-3840Year:1997

Analysis, Mass media, Audiences, Performing arts, Theater audiences

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Comics in East Asian countries: a contemporary survey

Article Abstract:

Markets for comic books are continuously expanding in East Asian countries. High profitability of a comic book industry has attracted many domestic publishers. Stiff competition exists in almost all these countries. Growth is more evident in Hong Kong, where sales have gone up to HK $100 mil yearly. The market is continuously expanding in South Korea and Taiwan, but comparatively at a lower rate. Influence of Japanese comics has started to give way to national themes in South Korea and Taiwan.

Author: Lent, John A.

Publisher:Blackwell Publishers Ltd.Publication Name:Journal of Popular CultureSubject:Sociology and social workISSN:0022-3840Year:1995

Cruising the alternatives: homoeroticism and the contemporary vampire

Article Abstract:

People perceive vampires differently. Majority see the vampire as a creature to be feared and killed. Paul Barber explained that vampires in early folklore represented the way preindustrial cultures view the processes and phenomena associated with death and decay of the body. In the 19th century, vampires were seen as desirable cultural products. The period saw vampires being related with ideas of sexuality.

Author: Schopp, Andrew

Publisher:Blackwell Publishers Ltd.Publication Name:Journal of Popular CultureSubject:Sociology and social workISSN:0022-3840Year:1997